DENISON & IRENE

busy week...

we drove to ohio and back to take our daughter to college...

the freshman induction ceremony was beautiful...

then home to prep for hurricane irene, which included cutting some flowers...

thankfully for us, after 8" of rain and much wind (still blowing) we still have power. others in my family are without power...

SPLIT TOMATOES

the downside of heirloom tomatoes is that their thin skins split...

but the delicate skins also make the heirlooms better eating.

last week, my neighbor mary and i used her canning knowledge and supplies to can my crop. on the left is canned brandywine, center is dr. wyche's yellow and on the right is black krim/purple cherokee (these two are similar tasting.)  i'm curious to see if one can tell the difference in the flavors canned.

here's a spot i don't photograph often, the entrance to the potager...

just inside the gate, a profusion of blooms...

the standard top view...

visitor to echinacea 'sundown'...

echinacea 'tiki torch'...

california poppy.

COOL, RAINY AUGUST

mark t's sunflower is blooming...

thanks, mark t...

the sunflower pops above the 8 ft deer fencing...

a variety of tomatoes... in the back is a cherokee purple on the l, dr. wyche's yellow on the r, middle row brandywine on l and c, black krim on the r. the brandywines still have the best taste... i might have enough tomatoes by tuesday to can some.

romanesque broccoli. i've decided that broccoli is just too hard to grow.

allium florets kick free...

portrait of a garden terrorist... this young doe has been ubiquitous... i fear she will get run over...

echinacea 'sundown' enhanced by afternoon sun...

rainbow chard glowing in the sun...

echninacea 'coconut lime' matures to green pompoms...

hubs completed the rock wall and it's beautiful!  next spring i'll plant on it.

volunteer echinacea sparkles in the late afternoon...

AUGUST HEIRLOOMS

yesterday i picked these tomatoes (cherokee purple on the l, black krim on the r): 

here's what the brandywines looked like on july 31st...

cherokee purple tomatoes on july 31st...

brandywines today...

another brandywine today... i think the tomato ladders are a real success...  i'm getting close to feeling i can recommend them... let's see how they store over the winter.

the potager is blowsy with blooms, with helenium 'mardi gras', echinacea, verbena bonariensis and cleome 'violet queen'

the verbena sprinkles spent blossoms on the butternut squash leaves...

the potager... i had to pull the summer squash from the empty spot at top right due to vine borers...

and hubs rock wall is coming along nicely.